Full Moon
by sTaRfIrExrObIn
Summary: SEQUEL TO BLINDING TWILIGHT. Twentytwo and fresh out of college, its been four years since Richard left Kori to struggle with the past. With her days unknowingly numbered by an old enemy, Kori and Richard reunite in the strangest of ways. Major RobxStar
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.**

**A/N: This is the sequel to Blinding Twilight. It would make sense to read that one first if you haven't yet.  This prologue takes place in the future, somewhere in the middle of the story.**

* * *

PROLOGUE 

I was going to give out anytime soon.

I guess some people don't die on sinking boats; I learned that minutes ago when I saw their familiar faces.

I had been running away from them for what seemed like miles and miles of agony. To be more specific, I was running away from death. I smiled. It had been such a long time since I've been in a situation like this. And to be honest, I had missed it so much.

Running uphill was a pain in the ass. We stopped when we reached the peak of the mountain, out of breath and panting. I only realized that I was hand in hand with the masked stranger when I felt his grip on my hand tighten.

Without even looking at him, I thought I recognized a familiar presence. I had the biggest urge to throw myself at him at that moment. Swiveling around, I lowered my eyes, challenging him. "Do I know you?"

He slipped his fingers underneath the edges of the mask, teasing my patience as he slowly peeled it off, revealing a face that I hadn't seen in a long time. His dark crimson hair hadn't changed at the least, and his boyish body was long gone.

"It's been a while," I murmured. "I didn't know you were in the business." I was so confused with myself, and I mentally slapped myself at the sound of my alluring tone. What had gotten into me? All I could see was red right now.

"You haven't changed a bit." His face drew closer and closer to mine until I could smell his sweet breath. "You can't be around me; I'm your boss's worst enemy."

I smirked. "Shhh, don't talk," I hushed. "You'll ruin what I'm about to do next."

I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that the thought of revenge was poisoning me. I fluttered my eyelashes slowly, but not to the point where it was obvious that I was overdoing it. Our noses were touching, and the tiny gap between our hungry lips where the moonlight peeked in was soon closed.

I guess my enemy's enemy was my friend…

…That is, with benefits, of course…


	2. Chapter 1

I was dreaming. I had to be, because he was standing just a few feet away from me.

His black hair shone in the dawning sunlight, and his blue eyes seemed to stare me down beautifully. His features were so godly and divine, yet in the simplest, flattering form possible.

"Kori, come to me," he called in the sweet, husky voice I loved so much.

I ran to him, ran to him until I thought I could feel my lungs burst and quenching for oxygen. Different faces popped in every direction I looked in, and I had to fight harder to push through the crowd.

Any other time I would have considered myself lucky to get a peek at his sculpted face, but this time he had an expression of betrayal, and the word "traitor" lingered in his blue eyes, now changed from icy blue to a shade of blue so dark that it could be mistaken for black.

I wanted to come to him; didn't he understand that from the way I was fighting so hard if that meant getting at least an inch closer to him?

My legs moved slower and slower as I fought way through the callous crowd, but the hands on the tall clock tower didn't seem to slow down like I was.

And then it happened.

He extended hand was let down in lost hope, and he stared at me as the crowd pulled me back sadly.

The restless sun began to set between two peaks by now, and something forced me to look at the blinding twilight twinkling off in the distance. But when I looked back there was nothing left.

No clock tower.

No crowd.

And soon I realized that he was gone as well.

**-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-**

I sat up straight, and I heard the rain pouring outside. There was this horrible, high-pitched screech echoing in my ear, and hot tears began to run down my cheeks, burning every inch of skin in ran through. It wasn't until I touched my hands lightly to my mouth when I realized that the scream belonged to me.

It had been so long since I had that dream.

"Shit…" I muttered myself, sniffling my tears. I breathed in carefully, deeply. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to push away the rotten memory of him, the reason for my nightmare.

How could I stop crying inside when the only person who could help me stop was the one who made me start?

It was four years ago. Richard had left me so suddenly, and without so much as a farewell, and for some reason that was unbeknownst to me. I was so weak then; I had let myself fall for him harder than I could even imagine. All of a sudden, when I was around him, I could let go of myself. I missed that feeling. But more important, I still missed him. The fact that I was in love with Richard Grayson, along with the entire nation of girls around the world, seemed very…cliché. But it had felt so real. I knew he had felt the same way about me. I saw the weakness in his eyes whenever I was around him. I always felt a certain thirst in his kisses. Nowadays I doubted, with his busy life, that he rarely thought about me the way I thought about him.

The next morning I knew I was in trouble when I heard Raven making breakfast. She never cooked anything unless she was thinking about something.

"So I heard you screaming again last night," Raven said monotonously. There was a slight hint of concern in her voice.

"I, uh…it was nothing. You know I hate storms," I lied.

We had both changed during our four years at Gotham University. It was a funny thing, actually- it was almost as if we had switched lives since high school. She was dating Garfield now, and I had dated almost half of Jump City and a quarter of the guys in Gotham, yet I had never gone past no more than a third date. Her amethyst eyes were always twinkling with joy, just like mine used to. But now my formerly green eyes were shadowed with a dark green.

There was one point in time during our freshman year of college when I had stopped taking care of myself. I had let myself waste away on junk food. Extra weight, which was something very unfamiliar to my naturally thin body, sat on my torso, just waiting for me to get rid of it. I had dyed my rare auburn hair black. But I couldn't keep the red hair from coming out. My roots would quickly show a few days after I dyed it. I was a lost case; even Gar, who usually saw the light of things, thought there was no hope left…

------------------------------

"_Kori, what are you doing to yourself?" _

_I had never heard her voice so solemn, so sad and pitiful. I hated being pitied. I tried to hide my hot tears using my usual trick, which was hiding my face behind my long curtain of red hair. But my hair wasn't bright red anymore; it was as black as my mood. _

_For a moment I couldn't even open my mouth. "I think I'm losing her," I said whispered hoarsely._

_Her purple eyes had question marks in them for a split second. "Who did you lose now?" _

"_Me."_

_Silence filled the room once more. "Do you want to find…_her_…again?" _

_This time I lifted my face up, exhibiting the shameful tears that hung from my eyelashes. "I…I really don't know right now…"_

------------------------------

It took me the whole summer after that to get back into shape. I finally accepted my red hair again, and I got my old body back. But I still couldn't get the shady gray out of my eyes.

'_But those are old times_,' I thought to myself.

We were fresh out of college now. Just a week ago we had bought our own penthouse here in Gotham. I still couldn't decide on what I wanted to do for a living. I knew for a fact that Galfore wasn't going to let me live on his earnings forever. I was caught between my love for journalism and medicine.

There was an awkward silence between us as I tried my best not to puke at the sight of Raven's almost black pancakes. I took a small sip of coffee, using the mug to block the plate out of my sight.

She burst out laughing. I was so envious of her. She had brought herself to laugh now, something she rarely did in high school. I, on the other hand, brought myself to sulk all the time. I usually only smiled when I was forced or when I was with Raven and Gar.

She was still laughing. "It's okay, Kor. You don't have to eat them."

But her face suddenly became nervous when she looked at the clock, like she was about to ask me for a favor.

"What?" I asked, my smile fading into a skeptical look.

"I hope you don't mind if Gar and I go to the movies for a while."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I mind? You guys always do that stuff anyway-"

I cut myself off when I realized what she had been so nervous about. I looked at her in disbelief. "You did it again, didn't you?"

She had set me up on a blind date. Again. It was safe to say that Raven had set me up with almost all of Gar's friends, except for Victor. She knew I hated it, not only because of the weird guys she chose (most of them, again, being Gar's friends), but because of dating itself. I hated first dates, where the girl asked all the questions and the guy sat there, bragging about himself every five seconds. First dates seemed more like an interview than romantic time.

"Well, yeah…but let's be honest you really need it nowadays. All you do is sulk around."

She pushed me into the big walk-in closet and I searched for clothing that expressed my moods: bored and…ugly. I pulled on a regular pair of skinny jeans, worn-out and holey, and the ugliest black trench coat and boots that I owned. I tied my red hair up in a messy ponytail, hoping that it would be a turn-off.

We hopped into a taxi and drove off to the café to meet Gar and my "blind date".

Raven was right though. It was time for me to change. As I walked into the café, I recognized an old friend waiting for me, smiling at me. His strong features were still the same, except manlier. His red hair shone in the light and his dark eyes hadn't changed a bit. He still had that cocky smirk that I hated on his face.

"Hey, Stranger," he greeted me. His voice had changed too, from small and boyish to low and husky.

"X'hal…" I couldn't help letting my mouth fall in shock. "Wally…Is it really you?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't recognize him anymore.

And for once, I smiled because I wanted to, not because I was forced. I hadn't felt my heart swell with joy like this since Richard. But the little piece of him that I had been trying to push away was still slightly in my way.

I tried to push the little bit out.

It wouldn't budge.

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	3. Chapter 2

"I can't believe how great it is seeing you again."

We were lying on the rooftop amongst the stars. Usually I had to plan a conversation before I started it, but with Wally, everything was easy. I loved the way his dark brown eyes would twinkle whenever I said something funny.

We had been the best of friends before I moved to Jump City. People always wondered what miraculous force had brought us to be best friends. I was so sugary and too sweet for my own good then. He would always protect me, with his obnoxious attitude and cocky smile. Girls would always swoon and give in to his obsessive flirting, while boys would run away scared at his witty comebacks. It was a process I had learned to enjoy watching.

Of course, I had no interest in him romantically. The fact that Raven, the person who knew me the most, had set me up with my other best friend, was hilarious. We had had too many long talks, secrets, and exposure to each other's bad habits with each other; in short, we had too much history to love each other in that way.

He continued to gaze up at the night sky. "So, dating anybody nowadays?"

I breathed out a small laugh as he wiggled his eyebrow up and down. I shook my head as it rested in my folded arms. "Only half of Gotham, thanks to Raven," I said sarcastically. "How did she find you anyway?"

"This'll sound totally unlike me…so don't laugh," he warned me jokingly, yet there was still some uneasiness in him. "I've been seeing this matchmaker."

I tried to keep my promise, but a giggle escaped from my mouth. "Are you for real? How serious is this lady…I mean, does she even know what she's doing?"

"Well, some of the people she fixed me up with lasted for a month or two. But I haven't had much luck."

I raised my eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"Well, I used to date this girl. It was kind of a long distance relationship." He sighed dreamily, with fantasy swirling in his eyes. "She had these beautiful pair of lavender eyes, almost like…a cat or something. Her face was so pale, but delicate. And her hair was so purple, so rebellious...I loved it"

There was a slight daze in his eyes as he spoke, and in mine too. It almost sounded like he had been describing…

"Her name was Jinx."

I froze and lay stiffly. "Wait, was she originally from Jump City?" I asked. I didn't want to know the answer.

"Yeah. Hey, did you know her? She said she went to Jump City High."

I ignored his question as I sat up abruptly. "When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"Well, a couple months ago she told me that she was staying here in Gotham and then after that I never saw her again."

This could not be possible. Jinx was on that boat four years ago…the boat that sank while Richard and I were trying to escape from Slade. I knew that ships had seen bits and pieces of it floating in the midst of the ocean. Even five dead bodies had been found washed along the shores of a nearby island. They had all been identified correctly. I shivered.

Wally got up and stared at me intently. "Are you okay? Raven said she was pretty worried about you; now I am too. What's going on?"

I stood up and hugged Wally tightly. "I'm…sorry I have to spoil our little reunion. I don't feel very good all of a sudden."

I ran down the flight of stairs, not knowing exactly what I was running away from. From the corner of my eye, I could see his eyes cast upon me. Was he really that worried about me? Because it seemed like everybody was these days.

**------------------------------**

I stood before Raven as she observed my outfit. Wearing pinstripe skirt and a loose white v-neck shirt, I felt my ankles wobbling awkwardly in my classic-looking three-inch pumps.

Today was my scheduled interview with G&W Corporation. Normally I would have gone to the interview in my usual jeans and sweatshirt ensemble, but today was important; more like the company was important. Though it had only been established for four years, G&W had it's own bank and trade market, and it was the high-tech factory where government weapons were manufactured. But G&W was best known for it's newspaper, The Gotham Times, where worldly secrets were released and gossip was proven right or wrong (by it's writers). It was the one thing I had been working my ass off for during my depression.

She sighed disappointedly and I slouched this time. "What's wrong with it now?" I asked, my last nerve almost lost. But a smile broke out on her face, and I pretended to send her a stern glare.

"You look fine. But put some makeup on, won't you? You know, just in case it's a guy who's interviewing you."

I had always downplayed my looks. Besides my clothes, I hardly ever wore any significant makeup and usually wore my hair up in a ponytail or left down. Many men had told me that my beauty was a gift, but it only made me feel cheated. My "beauty" made me feel self-conscious and exposed.

A slight brush of mascara and small touch of eye shadow later, I hugged Raven and walked out the door. The taxi drive had been hell, even though it lasted only for three minutes, because the driver wouldn't turn down his Mozart music. I thanked the driver as I got out of the cab, trying to keep a smile on my face. I paused just before I stepped in through the revolving French doors, wondering if I knew what I was getting into.

I was pretty sure I did…I think.

The floors were a beautiful marble, and my heels clicked against them nicely. I stepped into the elevator, covered in rich gold.

"What floor, miss?"

The uniformed man waited patiently for my answer as I dug into my purse for the directions, but his eyes were burning with a fiery gaze as they lingering on my chest while I told him to take me to the twentieth floor. It was the blouse. At least I knew it was working.

I stepped out of the elevator and walked up to the front desk where a woman about a year older than me was sitting. There was a fancy engraved block on her desk that said Donna. She was pretty with black-hair and her skin was fair, unlike my naturally tanned skin, her eyes were cat-like and blue. She looked so innocent, as though untainted by the world…I hated her already.

Forcing a pleasant smile on my face, I greeted her kindly. "Hi, I'm Kori Anders. I'm, uh, here for an interview about your newspaper's job opening."

I couldn't tell if I was just too nervous to function, but I could have sworn that her blue eyes flashed black with alertness when I said my name. She knew who I was. She did a good job of covering up her shock, because she smiled and stood up from her desk.

"Oh, of course. This way, please."

I followed her though the floor. The offices were nice, built out of glass, just like the building was. Heads turned my way, and I wasn't sure if it was the blouse again or if I had something on my face. Finally we reached a stop as we came to a large glass room.

There was some kind of sympathy running between our intense silence, and I knew that she had undergone everything that I was about to go through. She opened the door slowly, dramatically, and gave me a small smile.

**------------------------------**

Raven was right. A guy was interviewing me. He wasn't cute or ugly, just your same old Average Joe, only a couple of years older than me. But he did not look at my blouse or my face for more than two seconds; he was being careful.

"And how old are you?"

"Twenty-one. I just graduated college three months ago with a master's degree in journalism."

"Have you had any experience with detective work?" He waited for my answer patiently. Giving him a skeptical look, I answered awkwardly with a simple "no".

Twenty-five questions later, I sat still in the chair, keeping my poise. I was getting antsy already, and I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay still for a couple more minutes. Michael, the name of the man interviewing me, was still at it with the questions. My heart flipped as he came to his final conclusion about me.

"I see that you've graduated from Stanford as valedictorian." The black-haired, brown-eyed man inspected me intently with approval, and then looked at my resume once more. "Here at G&W, knowledge is just as important as dedication. I see that yours will do you well here."

There was silence in the empty room. I held my breath as he shut the portfolio up, waiting for his answer. "So, do I get the job?"

He smiled slightly. "Yes. But I should have you know that this decision was not based on just this interview itself. You were highly requested here by G&W's president himself."

"And who is G&W's president?"

"He's not here right now."

"Well, then could I meet your vice president?"

Michael gave me a blank look. It didn't look entirely confusing on his part; it was the kind of look that seemed to be worn out, as if it were used too many times on different people. "I'm sorry, but Mr. Gr-"

"-I want to know who I am working for, Michael," I cut in, strengthening my voice. Michael, seeing that I was serious, nodded meekly and walked out the doors. I sat in the leather chair switching my gaze between the two paintings in the room boredly. It wasn't until I looked at the clock until I realized that it had been twenty minutes since Michael had left the room. My fists curled up into balls. If my boss didn't want to meet me, then I would have to go to him myself.

I walked out into the hallway with a straight posture, although I wasn't exactly feeling all the confidence that I was showing inside. It wasn't comfortable that I was probably going to screw up my job on my first day. I came to the front desk where I saw Donna, her blue eyes questioning my presence.

I was just about to open my mouth when I heard Michael's voice coming from another hall. "But sir, the girl wants to meet her boss," he said panting. "It's been twenty minutes since I left her in there!"

"I don't care how long she's been waiting, Mike. What's so special about her anyways? Tell me what she's like first if you're so desperate for me to meet her."

That voice…so velvety and bold…it sounded so familiar…

Michael was finally in sight. He was pushing somebody in a suit down the hallway. "Red hair, green eyes, smart…boss, just go!"

The guy that Michael was struggling with suddenly stopped trying to get away and paused for a moment. I stormed up to them, and I saw Michael's eyes widen fearfully. Frightened, he pushed his boss towards me recklessly. "Meet your boss!" he said in hastiness, and disappeared around the corner. Poor guy. If he was afraid of me, then he must've been afraid of everything.

We collided against the wall, the man who was supposedly my boss crushing me against it. I slid away from the man's body as quickly as I could, and I sighed in frustration as I brushed my blouse. Quietly muttering angry nonsense under my breath, I was soon interrupted by my boss.

"…Kori?"

That voice. His words flew around my ears like mosquitoes, diving and threatening before they bit me. And then they bit me. I felt instantly poisoned, paralyzed in my own shoes. Thoughts that had disappeared long ago came back again, but the old hopes were gone for good. I lifted my gaze up slowly, silently praying that I might be wrong about who it was.

I felt his gaze on me, and I finally looked at him. As our eyes met, his unreadable and seeing me at last, my vision began to fuzz around the edges.

There he stood. Richard Grayson, my past, the person who had taken away the Kori that everybody used to love, was standing there. His eyes were still as blue as ever but they were no longer soft, but they had become solid and rigid. He had gotten taller and leaner, though his muscles showed underneath his shirt, but his boyish looks hadn't changed the tiniest bit. His jaw was clenched tightly, from what I could tell.

By this time, I felt eyes plastered on my face. Workers were peering from their rooms, and people were crowding the hallways. They were eager to see what would happen to this lost romance.

I felt so weak all of a sudden. I sank down to the ground, putting my fingers to my temple. I put my forehead to my knees. I was vaguely aware of the gasps that echoed in the room. Dimly I felt Richard's alarm as he broke his stiff posture to put his worried hands on my shoulders. After a few moments I felt myself being cradled in his arms; I could feel him running. My human instinct told me to hang onto consciousness, but I was too weak, and it was a blessed relief to let it go.

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	4. Chapter 3

My eyes fluttered open, and for a minute I was slightly unaware of where I was. A searing pain slashed through my skull, and I put my hand to my forehead. "What happened?" I muttered. And then everything flooded into my head again: the interview, those eyes…

I recognized the ceiling of my room and a small tear escaped from the corner of my eye. This room was too small to hold in all of the anxiety ready to burst out of this chest. I had already had a gut feeling in my stomach that the moment I forgot about Richard was the moment I was going to see him again.

I stopped sniffling and paused for a moment to listen to Raven's voice on the other side of the closed door. "Galfore, I assure you that she's fine…no, you don't need to fly here…okay, bye." I heard her hang up the phone and within a couple seconds she entered the room, her face calm and collected, although her eyes displayed her worry. She sat on the bed and tried to look at me. I avoided her gaze stubbornly.

"How did I get here?" I asked, still staring at a little blank spot on the wall.

"I'm only going to answer that when you tell me what happened with Richard first."

My alertness became clearer. "How did you know this had anything to do with Richard?"

"Isn't everything?" she said as if it meant nothing. But it did mean something. "I picked you up at the office."

I pursed my lips angrily, not knowing what to say. I sighed. There was a moment of silence between us, something that we were both comfortable with. Some people felt like they had to talk to keep a connection going. Raven and I were different. Silence was golden in times of trouble like this. "What am I supposed to do? I've worked so hard for that job. Quitting will just mean that I've wasted my all my time and effort."

A strange look came into her dark purple eyes, and she bolted from the room. She returned a few seconds later, carrying a vanilla envelope. "You can't quit…I just got this in the mail this afternoon."

She handed me a letter and I gave her a skeptical look. "It says that the rent was raised," she continued. "Even with my job, we still won't be able to pay it. You have to deal with Richard."

"I can't. You know I can't."

Raven gave me a long, hard stare. "You have to and I know you will, for the both of us."

"I can't listen to this anymore."

And with that I stumbled out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, slamming the door loudly as I trapped myself in there. I knew I was acting immature and spoiled- the very thing I refused to be. But pretending to be okay was not an option for me anymore. I switched on the faucets of the bathtub and sink until I knew that the pouring water was loud enough to drown out the sound of my tears falling.

**------------------------------**

Michael had called to postpone my first week of the job and apologized profusely, making it hard for me to forget about it, and soon I had to unplug my telephone cord because I was tired of being harassed by his "I'm Sorry"s.

Things seemed to lighten up the week I started my new job, in the oddest way imaginable. It felt like suddenly the whole world was trying to apologize to me. Michael greeted me every morning with a cup of warm coffee in his hand, ready to say sorry again, and the workers in the newspaper department took the time to step out of their offices to greet me when I passed by. Three different taxi drivers charged my rides to work free, insisting that the drive was too short to be paid for. It made me wonder if news of me fainting was broadcasted or something.

One person I didn't see the whole week was Richard, Mr. Vice President. The president of G&W was none other than Bruce Wayne himself. I had heard news of him wanting to step down as president and giving the position to Richard, who was in charge of picking the next vice president. For many of the girls at the office, I'm sure that it meant having to close to Richard as soon as possible…_very_ close. But I had no interest in earning the position in that way; I was willing to work my ass off for it, the proper way.

Friday came by quickly though, much to my dismay. I kind of missed being treated like a princess- it seemed so long since I had last lived in a mansion, with maids and butlers to cater to my every whim. It was raining and humid, one of Gotham's usual summer storms, and the streets were practically empty, being that it was almost midnight.

Taking my usual route home (it was my first time walking from work without a taxi), I scurried down the sidewalk. I must have taken the wrong turn, because I began to see nothing but brick walls with garbage leaned against them and the back doors of buildings with graffiti. A small sound caught my ear. I stopped to listen. All I could hear the pitter-pattering of the rain against the concrete…and another set of footsteps. From the corner of my eye I saw a man, obviously drunk from the way he was staggering, running after me.

He whistled loudly. "Hey, baby!"

I turned around to see him pacing towards me, and soon another man, this one dressed in baggy clothes, joined him. I could feel my heart burning through my chest as I began to walk faster. But soon two turned into three, and then four. Until I saw five figures walking towards me, I realized that I had stupidly run myself into a gang.

My pumps clicked against the poorly paved road as I ran as fast as I could and the rain was leaking in through the dress under my trench coat. But I only ran into a dead end, with no doors to bang on for help, just solid brick walls surrounding me. I couldn't find the strength in myself to scream; the group was less than five feet away from me. I felt like I was trapped in a box as they cornered me.

"Help! Somebody help me, please!" I cried, begging. I felt their dirty hands on me, shoving me around for their own amusement.

"Hey Jay, man, let me have this one this time," one of the gang members said, struggling to hold me down. I fought back, I kicked, and I punched, but there were too many of them.

I could feel their grip on me loosening; I was slipping away. All of a sudden, a cold, hard hand swept across my right cheek. My body twisted in the air, and it was seconds later when I realized that I was out of the gang's grasp and lying down on the cold, wet pavement. Trying to prop myself up, my body no longer responded to me; I had lost all hope and my chances of escaping were gone.

The gruff male grabbed me by the neck and pushed me against the wall forcefully. His dirty, vile eyes ran over my body disgustingly. "Not so easy to get away anymore, is it-"

"Don't touch her," a strong, furious voice commanded from far away, and it was amazing how fast the choking fear lodged in my throat instantly vanished, amazing how the feeling of security suddenly began to power my confused brain.

A figure in dark red jumped from over the brick wall that I was cornered in. The man let me go hastily, leaving me to tumble to the ground from my surprise and his attempt to choke me, and the faint feeling of dizziness left me in a shocked state and unaware of where I was at the moment. My blurry vision began to subside, and I watched, frozen and stunned, as the mysterious cloaked figure fought quickly. Within seconds, all five of the men were down and completely blacked out.

The man's voice, deep and husky, made me melt in amazement. "Are you okay?"

I took a good look at his face when he took a step forward, letting him reveal himself in the dappled moonlight. His uniform, a solid colored dark maroon, outlined the muscles lying underneath. A small mask hid his eyes, and the shadow of the buildings darkened the color of his hair.

I stared stupidly at his extended hand. Eventually after a few moments, I took it, and he pulled me up, grabbing hold of my shoulders and setting me straight. I was still dizzy from the hit I received on my cheek, and I staggered.

"So you didn't answer my question," he said, his voice becoming seemingly familiar with each word he spoke, "Are you okay?"

"I…" I paused. My thoughts ran over everything that had gone wrong over the past two weeks. I nodded my head, even though it was a lie. "…I think I'll be fine eventually…"

His hands still rested on my shoulders, his grasp softening with more tenderness with each minute that passed. We seemed to be in trances with each other. I stared at his face- a stern, serious jaw line and a black mask that seemed to be holding in more than just his eyes, which were the most beautiful shade of a dark charcoal-like brown I had seen…now why would anyone want to hide eyes like those?

I shook out of my fantasy quickly. "I think I'm good now," I whispered softly.

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Thank you."

I gathered my coat on the wet ground, placed it over my shoulders, and started to walk out of the alley. I turned my head to my left slightly, and from the corner of my eye I saw that he had disappeared. I continued to walk.

**------------------------------**

Raven was standing in the doorway, her mouth open in aghast and her purple eyes wide. "What in Azarath just happened to you?"

I could feel her angry and at the same time worried gaze burning through my skin, waiting for an answer. I almost wanted to laugh; I knew exactly what I looked like. I was drenched from head to toe, my heels were leaking water, and my hair was mangled and unusually tussled. My cheeks were probably red and I had at least five bruises on my wrists. I was a mess.

As I rushed past her, I said, "I just, uh…I ran into a little trouble, that's all." Her eyes still had a hint of worry in them, but she only shrugged and went back to lie on the couch.

In a way, Raven had become almost…motherly towards me. After high school she began keeping her watchful eyes on my fragile spirit. She was still my best friend, but whenever she was walking beside me I felt like she was my bodyguard. If I had told her about the men in the alley way, she would probably chase after them and kick their asses herself.

I spent almost an hour washing my bruises and treating my wounds so that they went by Raven unnoticed. I was too lazy to untangle my hair, and dry my clothes. All night long all I could think of was my chestnut eyed, caped crusader. He was muscular, tall, and lean, just like Richard. But his eyes were brown…so it couldn't have been Richard in that suit. But then I remembered that Xavier's eyes had been that similar shade of brown.

I shivered.

The room suddenly felt too cold.

**------------------------------**

"Okay…anybody else got any ideas?"

The staff meeting, which took place every Monday, was today. Normally I would have been ecstatic, with this being my first meeting. I only shared one of the many ideas I had. I would have had my hand raised every five minutes and everything, but today I was too distracted.

Richard was sitting straight across from me. The one time I spoke out, I felt his eyes boring into my skin, like everybody else who wanted to hear from the new girl. Though everyone applauded me for my idea (especially our boss, Gene Parker), I felt awkward in that position. I didn't want to give Richard reason to stare at me…or anyone else for that matter. So I shut up for the next hour.

The one thing that did annoy me the most was Donna, that secretary at the front desk. She kept on coming in and out of the room. She walked like she was a supermodel, trying to flip her hair as she handed Richard his morning coffee, his newspaper, his watch, and the lamest things that gave her excuses to try catching Richard's eye. Surprisingly, he didn't even notice whose hand was giving him his coffee, or anything else. He stayed silent the entire meeting. I felt his eyes casting glances at me from the corner of his eyes. Donna seemed to notice this and when she left the room for the last time, she gave me a dirty look. I looked at her with shock, and I then I saw Richard trying to hide a smile that was about to break out any minute. I could feel the steam coming out from my ears. Luckily, the meeting was almost over.

"Harper Incorporated, our only competitor that actually has a chance of rising up to our standards, is beginning to catch up with us. We need new stories fast; we need to find something that'll make them back down quick…or else this company will down quicker than we rise," concluded Gene.

He spent the next thirty minutes giving us our assignments. By the time he got to me, I was practically snoozing in my seat.

"Hmm…Kori Anders…what should I give you? I want you to interview…" his voice trailed off in thought. His eyes wandered over my face. After a few moments off dreadful silence, with everybody in the room burning their eyes into my face, he spoke. "…Him."

My eyes followed his pointed finger, which was pointing to something at the opposite side of the room. I almost screamed in horror when I realized that Gene's stupid finger was pointing to Richard. There was a murmur of surprise in the room, and I knew that this was going to be a topic of gossip after the meeting was over. Unlike everybody else in the room, I found this as uninteresting as a rock.

Gene wanted me to interview Richard? So they were going to _make_ us talk to each other…I saw how it was. Richard and I stared dumbly at each other.

I stammered, my cheeks red with embarrassment. "B-but-"

"No 'buts', Anders," he said straightly. He gave me a stern look. "I want this due by Wednesday morning. That's two days counting today."

I sighed. I wished at that moment that I could crawl into a hole.

After we were dismissed, everybody went into work mode. Well, almost everybody. I was "lucky" enough to get a room right across from the front desk. Just minutes after I got back to my room, there were already two women leaning against the counter. Unaware as they were, I was in full listening distance from them.

"So, why do you think Gene let Anders get Richard _Grayson_? He never gives the new girls the interviews!" the short blonde one exclaimed.

"I would die if I could even get an inch closer to Richard Grayson. Did you see how ungrateful she was?" another said.

But then I saw Donna as her face came into full view. The blue eyes that I thought looked innocent were now filled with mischief, and a smirk was plastered against her face. She leaned against the counter dramatically, as the other two girls leaned in as well. "Do you guys even know why they aren't planning on talking?"

The two skinny girls nodded, dying for more. "No. Tell us," the silver-eyed one murmured. Three more joined into the circle.

"Well," Donna started, satisfied with the attention she was getting, "I heard that they ruined each other's lives. Everybody, especially the paparazzi, knows that they haven't talked to each other since like, their senior year of high school. Richard himself told me that he ran away from her because she was being too, um…clingy."

It was obvious that she made the last part up, because of her uncertainty. But did Richard really tell her that himself? I listened for more, anxious to see if she was correct about everything.

"They fell really hard for each other…"

True…well, at least for me.

"…And he saved her from crashing into another car and from drowning…" The girls gasped, dreamily wishing that they could've been in Richard's arms.

That was true as well.

The blonde's face spelled total confusion. "But, like, wait…if he did all those things for her, why did he ditch her?"

It was a question I had been asking myself everyday for the last four years too. I waited silently for her answer…

"He said he wasn't into her. He got what he wanted from her and didn't need her anymore. She was basically like trash he didn't need anymore."

My mouth quivered. My eyes began to water and I could feel my mental stability leaving me.

So I was like trash to him. That bastard. Part of me didn't want to believe a word Donna had just said, and another part of me was telling me something else. If everything Donna had said was true, then she must have been telling the truth about what Richard had told her. I was going to break.

Sweeping my hand across my face to wipe my tears away, I began to gather my things. Raven was wrong…for the first time, she was actually wrong. I couldn't work in a place where everyone knew my past. Especially when my "past" was just down the hall from me. I paced quickly past the front desk, where from a glance I saw a smirk on Donna's face.

"I think she heard us," I heard one girl murmur.

I started to walk faster down the hall. Everyone, the damn spectators, once again stepped out of their offices to look at me. The elevator's doors were nearing it's close. I stuck my hand in and squeezed myself through. There was another man standing in the corner, but my tears blurred my vision.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. I pressed the button for the first floor and waited as my vision subsided and I glanced to the side nonchalantly, wanting to see who was looking at my humiliating defeat. He had a light blue, flannel-collared shirt on, and black slacks sitting loosely on his waist.

"Kori? Are you okay?"

Oh, that voice. Just the person I was dying to get away from. Richard. In anger, I dropped all of my things and I swiveled to face his blue eyes, fighting to resist them. "No, I am not okay, and second, I-"

The elevator stopped abruptly. The lights went dark, and the music turned off. I paused, waiting for a miracle to happen. "Oh no…" Frantically I stumbled onto my feet and began pressing every button in front of me. "Work, you stupid thing!" I said, raising my voice. It was no use. The elevator had stopped moving, and I was stuck in it with Richard Grayson.

At least now I could get my interview done.


	5. Chapter 4

"Oh. My. God," I said slowly to myself, making sure that this wasn't just a nightmare. I managed to breathe in and out slowly while I began to feel as though someone were shaking my head. I collapsed against the walls, showered in gold, and onto the cold ivory floors, laughing hysterically. "X'hal," I continued, "I cannot believe this…I-I just can't…"

Richard looked at me with dull blue eyes. "Kori, just calm down a bit…"

My laughter died down within a minute after he said that. I could feel my anger daring to burst out of my system. Anybody could tell that we were both the last people either of us wanted to be stuck in an elevator with. He stood stiffly in one corner, and I sat in the opposite. A strange silence hung in the air, and part of me wanted to embrace it and be glad that we weren't speaking, and the other part told me that silence wasn't going to solve anything. I lightly touched two fingers to my temple.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" The words spilled out of my lips and I almost slapped my hand over my mouth. "Of all people, I can't believe you told someone like Donna all those things."

"Whatever Donna said is bullshit."

I stared at him with incredulous eyes. "Don't give me that excuse."

He joined me on the floor, still in the opposite side of the elevator, and muttered, " She's been fueling rumors about everyone in the building since she got here. Just don't listen to her."

"So I'm not 'trash that you don't need anymore'? This time tears were not welling up in my eyes like they normally would when I got frustrated. I was angry this time; I wasn't about to fall weak to my knees and forgive him so easily for wasting nearly four years of my life.

"I hate you," I spoke, my words full of confidence to prove this statement. For a slight moment he seemed to be taken aback by it, but wasted no time, composing himself quickly.

"I can't say I'm sorry. I did what I had to do to keep you safe," he said strongly, and almost protectively.

"Safe from what? We had already gotten rid of Slade and the rest of them. I…I don't understand…" I said frustrated. I ran my eyes over his face, searching for answers.

"I couldn't lose you. Not just to Slade; I have other enemies too. There will always be somebody who wants to hurt you just to get to me. You never would've been safe if they saw us together." He sighed.

"Do you think it was the right thing to do? To have me hate you for four years? Is this what you wanted?" I spat out.

"What makes you so special?" he asked, raising his voice suddenly. "I've had tons of women hate me before for different things. How is it that you're the only one that makes me regret everything I've done- not even Bruce can do that!"

"Because I've suffered!" I blurted out. It had slipped out of my mouth uncontrollably. My words echoed in my ear and a stunned silence hung between the two of us. Our eyes danced around the small room, and no one spoke for what seemed like ten minutes. I wondered if I was ever going to get home. There was nothing left to talk about with our past- it would always be too overbearing to discuss with even a few words. I decided to sleep. I slipped my thin sweater off and put it underneath my head. I was careful to keep my legs tightly together since I was wearing a dress. I blacked out almost instantly, unaware until now of how tired I had become in just the little time I had spent with Richard.

**------------------------------**

'_Please be home, please be home…'_ I pleaded silently to myself.

But to my dismay, I awoke to the same dim, flickering lights above me. Richard was still sitting in the corner, his head in his hands, but this time he was fast asleep. His head lay on his chest as he breathed in and out quietly. I remembered what it used to be like before, thinking that Richard and I would be inseparable. I had gotten used to the feeling of safety whenever I was around him, as if I knew nothing could hurt me. But that Richard was long gone, as it seemed. Then again, so was the old Kori.

I would have been lying if I said I wasn't still falling all over him. He was different now. His hair wasn't spiked in that boyish fashion anymore. Instead it was grown slightly longer, down to the neck but not past it, uncombed and unruly- I had never known the dirty look to be so attractive until now. The lean body was now gone and taken place by a more muscular figure, not too buff and not too slim. His strong features were still the same. His eyes, though, were a dark blue- he was tired, not just from the night before, but for many nights. He had changed, maybe even more than I did. It was true that he was different now, in some ways I couldn't even describe, but I could still feel my heart longing for the Richard I used to know.

With a familiar, cheerless feeling at the pit of my stomach, I turned my head away from his sleeping figure and sighed. "I miss him," I whispered out loud.

"Miss who?"

Embarrassed, I whipped my head to his direction. I didn't know he was awake! I was still lying down with my head on my sweater. "I, uh…no one. I just…what time is it?"

He glanced at his watch. It was a Rolex. "Twelve twenty-six. It's been five hours since the elevator stopped."

It became quiet again.

"You've changed," came the husky, velvety voice from Richard's mouth. I stopped myself from turning red when I felt his eyes roaming over me.

I knew I had grown an inch taller, making me 5'7. My hair was now as red as ever since I had tried becoming a brunette. I kept my slim figure and tanned skin. I had been told that my features became more serious, that I no longer had that spark of freedom in my eyes. Honestly, I realized that I had gotten worse over the years rather than better.

"Really? I still feel the same." The words came out with no emotion whatsoever; I sounded more cross than I did well rested from a long sleep. It was lame. I was fully and totally aware of how lame that reply was, mainly because it was a straight-up lie. But he didn't seem to notice my dishonest face, and if he did, he didn't show it…I think.

"Are you still in the superhero business?" I questioned him with big eyes, trying not to make it obvious that I was curious to find out if my savior from the week before.

He nodded once, his eyes sharp on my face, watching my reaction. "Yeah. I had to take over for Bruce; he was getting too old."

"So what's this stuff between you guys and Harper Incorporated?" I asked. "I heard that one of G&W's vice presidents and one of the co-presidents of Harper used to be good friends."

"They ripped off our ideas. It didn't really matter anyway, because I already hated the guy from high school," he stated a matter-of-factly, almost bored.

"High school? Who was the guy?"

"You knew him. Remember Roy Harper?"

Roy Harper? The co-president of Harper Inc.? I couldn't imagine slim, red-haired (a case almost worse than mine), apologetic yet funny old Roy being the president of anything. I had always remembered him as the flirty one of our senior class, never the serious type…or maybe that was just with me. I did remember Raven telling me about how he tried to hit on her once.

"How could I forget Roy?" A smile slid on my face. It was the first one that I had on for the last two weeks. I was about to ask Richard whether he was still the same or not, but then another question came to mind. "Wait…what was your deal with him in high school?"

A sudden look crossed Richard's face. He looked flabbergasted, as if he had no words in his mouth. I almost giggled. He had no reason.

"I hated him…just 'cause."

There was an awkward silence in the small, compressed box we were trapped in. After a few minutes, he spoke again. "It's too bad about the rain, isn't it?"

There was a smirk on his face, and I smiled softly at the familiar question. He had asked me that the first time we spoke to each other. "Not really," I said in a well-rehearsed tone. It was well remembered, this moment between us used to intrude my thoughts every day four years ago.

His eyes lit up for the first time since I saw him again. "You don't like storms."

"Or the winds."

"Jump City must be a hard place for you to live in then."

We both burst out laughing. Suddenly, the laughter stopped. Our eyes swept past one another's awkwardly; I tried to avert my eyes every spot of the room except for Richard's eyes. I couldn't keep my eyes off Richard's face for long and locked into a long, winding trance. I stared at him, wishing more than anything that the future would never happen. That this moment would last forever because in that moment there was no resentment between us; every conflict was forgotten. Richard stared right back at me, his dark eyes soft, and it was easy to pretend that he felt the same way. So that's what I did. I pretended to make the moment sweeter.

Suddenly, a weird clanging noise rang throughout the elevator, and I covered my ears instantly. The elevator jerked slightly, and five pairs of hands (that was ten hands) were prying the elevator doors open. A crack of light at the upper end of the opening doors shone in my eyes, and soon that crack became a big enough hole for me to fit into it. A horrible screeching sound began to echo throughout the elevator.

"Hey, I need both of you to get out fast before the elevator goes down!" yelled one of the men.

I took a moment to take a quick glance at Richard. "Come'on, let's go!" he bellowed, trying to drown out the noise. I tried to fight off the urge to melt when he took hold of my hand and helped me climb out swiftly.

It was chaos after that. The only thing I heard then was the shrieking to the elevator, skidding against the shaft walls, and then a sickening plunge at the bottom. I was speechless.

The building was practically empty. Everybody had gone home, with the exception of the nosy gossipers of the department. Donna was not there, lucky for her, because I would have beaten the crap out of her if she were. Though there was one more elevator still in order, I made myself take the stairs all the way down to the first floor, even though I was on one of the highest floors of the building. I was never going to look at elevators _or_ stairs the same way again. I didn't realize that Richard was taking the stairs as well until he called my name from behind me.

"Kori!"

I stopped to look at him catch up to me. As soon as he fell into step with me, I began to walk again.

"You know, I just spoke to Gene," he began slowly. I couldn't tell if what he was going to say next was bad or good. "And he said he was willing to give you an extra day for our interview."

"Really?" I began to walk slower. "Then pick me up at my place tomorrow and we'll have the interview at the café or something."

My eyes went wide instantly after I said those words. Did I, Kori Anders who hated Richard Grayson, just ask my boss out? Technically it wasn't a _date_ date, but it was still an interview date. I tried to pretend not to notice, but from the side of my eye I had a clear view of a weird look beginning to form on Richard's face. From his expression, I could already tell that I had just shoved us into a slightly awkward territory.

"Okay, that didn't come out right," I said defensively, "But I seriously need to finish this article as soon as I can."

"Gene is sending Michael with us."

"Michael? The guy that interviewed me? Why?"

"Gene just wants to make sure that we aren't…messing around."

Oh. This was great. My boss thought we were going to take advantage of the time we had together. I slapped my hand to my cheek.

I sighed. "As long as this article is finished and over with, I'm good with anything,"I muttered.

"Fine. Is eight o'clock good? It's the only time I have available."

"Um…sure." I scribbled my address quickly. He was still stiff around me. I could feel a guarded sense of limitation from him. The stairway seemed longer than it already was as I walked down beside him. It was silent and uncomfortable. About an hour later, we reached the first floor.

We faced each other slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow," I said softly.

"Yeah."

And then we went our separate ways.

That night, as I lay in my bed, a weird feeling swept into mind. So I couldn't avoid Richard as I had previously planned, and now I was going to have to see him constantly. Richard and I weren't going to be strangers, much to my dismay, so we were going to have to be friends. I could do that. Couldn't I?

I could try to forget that he was my first and only. I could try to put aside the disastrous effect that our harsh breakup had on my life. I could try my hardest to ignore that mighty attraction I felt to him. But I had tried that already, and it had turned out even worse than the problem itself. Everything, back then, was swept under the rug without any closure whatsoever, and soon it was all blown out in my face. No, that wouldn't work.

The sad truth was that I could not forget any of those things, because I had never felt so overwhelmingly drawn to anyone in my entire life. In the four years since we'd seen each other, I questioned the particular magnetism we had for each other. It was true. We had never planned on meeting at Jump City High School, and we sure as hell didn't know that we were going to work together in the same building, in the same department, on the same floor, and for the same person. The fact that we got stuck on the same elevator seemed to make this issue even harder to answer. Was our relationship real? Or was I so caught up with everything else happening in my life that I imagined it? What was it about Richard? Yeah, he was handsome and talented. Sure, he could make me laugh. But a ton of other guys were too.

Sometimes when I think of Richard, and now even more when I see him, I get this weird achy feeling for the old Kori. The one who used to be less serious and more fun, carefree, and able to let go of the world around her. There was something vaguely enchanting about that time. There are always certain qualities that you possess carelessly, characteristics that you don't always know about. You couldn't retrieve them when they were gone, and the realization of those missing qualities made them impossible to regain.

I tossed in my bed. I knew what to do. I knew I couldn't control my basic response to Richard's effect on me with his words or his actions, but I could control my behavior. I was tough and single-minded then, and I still was now, only I was stronger and had more self-control now. I would contain myself. I wouldn't flirt, want, sulk, grieve or even think over anything that had to do with Richard. I made this promise silently to myself. It was a strong pact, one that would be hard and easy to break at the same time. Hard, because I knew myself now more than ever, because I loved myself too much to have something like Richard happen to me twice. And then again it would be easy to disobey myself, because I was usually drawn to things that were off-limits…things like Richard…

**------------------------------**

"Wow. I feel sorry for you," Raven said after I told her about last night.

"That doesn't mean we've suddenly become friends. I don't think we ever will be," I said a matter-of-factly. The both of us were lying on my bed. It was seven o'clock, and I was still in my work clothes. There was something going on tonight, a meeting or something, but I couldn't quite pinpoint the exact event I had planned for tonight.

"Work was hell today. I think I'm going to take a nap before I get ready."

Raven gave me a small smile. And just before she closed the door, she stuck her head in between the door and door jam. "I'm proud of you."

And then she left.

It was hotter than ever now that was sitting in my own room of failure and sorrow. I stripped down to my bra and my underwear, throwing my clothes in my hamper, and then lay back down on my bed for a long time. I lay there thinking about everything.

The truth was, work was nothing different than what it always was. The thing I was worrying about was what had happened in the elevator last night. I didn't like fighting, so most of the time I resorted to hatred and despise. I lay still on my bed, generally hating everything and everyone I knew.

I hated Galfore, because he was never there for me. I hated Koma, because she never let me know what it was like to have a sister- she was selfish and ran away without thinking of me. I hated Donna because she was a bitch and people still liked her. I hated Raven, because she knew dwelled on problems for too long and she never cared what people thought of her. I wished I were like her, because if I were I never would have listened to Donna and left early and gotten stuck on that elevator. I hated Gar, mainly because of his time-consuming relationship with my best friend. I hated Richard, because of how he made me feel. And lastly, I hated myself and my life. Nothing was beautiful in my world.

I heard the doorbell. I refused to get it. "Raven, door!" I yelled.

I waited and listened as Raven's footsteps seemed to get softer and softer as she went down the stairs. Of course she answered the door. Usually I was the one who was excited about doorbells and phone rings, and Raven was the one who was lazy to answer it. I could imagine her grunting right now just before opening the door. Then I heard Raven using her angry voice. I tried to figure out whom she would be talking to; nowadays, she rarely talked in rage. Maybe she and Gar had a fight and she was talking to him right now. Or maybe it was Raven's boss. She always told me about how bitchy her new boss was. Things like that could get Raven to talk angrily.

I concentrated on the sounds. I strained to hear the visitor, but the walls were too thick for me to make out who was talking back. It was a deep voice, most likely a male. Still, Raven's voice was more powerful in the background.

Now they were coming up the stairs. The footsteps didn't have the slow, easy pace that Raven walked at. These were fast and almost furious, as if she was trying to keep the person from coming upstairs. The second pair of footsteps were slow and heavy. Was it a guy? Was Raven bringing a guy upstairs? The chances of it being Garfield were smaller now, because his were always fast and light, full of energy.

I heard the deep voice again, and this time it was closer. It _was_ a guy!

Suddenly I realized that the footsteps hadn't taken the expected stop at Raven's room. My room was further down the hall. Instead they were coming in the direction of my bedroom, louder and louder with each passing second. With a sudden burst of panic, I sat up from my bed, frozen with the realization that I was in my bra and undies and some guy was coming into my bedroom.

"Kori!" came Raven's voice. I could hear the anger seething out of her. "Some jerk's here to see you!"

Some "jerk"? Now who would Raven hate so much that she would call him a jerk?

I sat frozen on my bed. The footsteps were louder, closer than I thought they were. If I leaped up to stand against the door to keep it from opening…no, I wouldn't have enough time. If I stayed where I was, then they would have seen me. If I got up to grab my bathrobe (or at least my towel)…

"Kori? I'm opening the door…"

The doorknob seemed to turn faster than I could've imagined it to turn. I tried to shout. Nothing was uttered from my mouth. My throat had suddenly gone dry, and the word "stop" came out as a parched, burnt silence. At the sound of her voice I leapt to my feet.

The door opened.

There was Raven. And indeed, there was a man. A tall, familiar, and handsome one. One I hated.

"Oh God!" she yelled in surprise and shock. She slapped a hand to her forehead at the sight of what was barely covering me. I could tell she was scolding herself.

The guy stood there with almost every single emotion played out on his face. He looked captivated and amused. He didn't take his eyes off of me as quickly as he should have.

I began to feel as if there was an earthquake just then. My head was beginning to get fuzzy. My heart was beating as loud as a drum. My throat began to get even drier. My naked, exposed skin was burning.

"Richard," I said faintly. Then I slammed the door loudly in his face.

I strode around the room, my face blazing. Richard had just seen me half-naked. _In my bra._ Nobody in the world ever saw me like that except for Raven, my mother, and Koma!

I was pacing around in such a small circle that I was making myself dizzy. It took me a few minutes to calm myself down from my hysterics. I walked over to my walk in closet across the room and mindlessly grabbed a pair of skinny jeans. I pulled a vintage t-shirt over my head and took a quick peek in the mirror. My face was still flushed and red, and I had no makeup on. It didn't matter anyway; I never put any on. I put on a pair of bright red pumps, tied a playful pearl necklace around my neck, and let my hair down loosely from it previous ponytail. I sighed and took one last long look at the mirror before heading to the door with my small laptop and recorder shoved in my purse.

I stumbled at the top of my stairs and grabbed the railing before I fell down the spiraling flight. I forced myself to take a deep breath, possibly my first in the last ten minutes. I walked into the kitchen with a nice, big smile, as if nothing had happened.

I looked at Richard. Richard looked at me. Raven continued to switch her gazes between the two of us.

He was leaning against the counter. With a small questioning smile, he greeted me. "Hello."

"Are you ready?" I asked hastily. I could still feel my cheeks burning.

"Yeah. Michael's meeting us at the café." His face was as red as mine.

"Okay then, let's go." I led him quickly out the door right just before Raven opened her mouth.

**------------------------------**

I was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair ever. It wasn't uncomfortable because of the chair, but because of the situation I was in. I had been sitting in it for almost three hours just sipping coffee, typing, and asking questions. I wondered once again about the wisdom of my career choice. I wondered if maybe G&W had any openings in manufacturing artillery. Or if they offered positions for those guys who pressed the buttons in the elevators. Or maybe even Donna's job, which would be nice. Her job didn't seem hard at all; it seemed like she never did a thing to help. Anything except for what I was doing right now.

"How do you balance your work and your social life?" Michael questioned.

"I have friends who help me with that."

I typed some more and then looked up at him.

"Are you seeing anybody?" I tried to make myself look bored instead of anticipating for an answer. I lowered my eyes a little bit more and curved my mouth down to a straightened lip. I don't think it worked.

"Are you asking me that that as a journalist or as Kori Anders?" He was trying to hide a grin.

I flashed him a look. I knew I was impatient. "As a journalist. Now answer it," I snapped.

He smiled at my impatience. "No. I've been on and off with this one girl. But other than that I haven't been dating"

I could tell he was trying to be careful with his words. He pitied me. He was trying not to hurt me. I felt a slight pang of hurt, but I ignored it. I tried very hard not to move my face one single millimeter. Casually, I picked up my coffee mug and sipped delicately.

The café was crowded. People were staring at us from their tables, whispering and pointing. It also didn't help that we were sitting near the window. The waiter, who was coming to our table more than he had to, had been giving me flirty smiles for the thirty minutes that we had been here. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. Michael, who was sitting beside me, and I took turns asking the questions.

"Have you ever given any thought to living a normal life, without the responsibilities of being the vice president of a growing industry or the paparazzi?" Michael waited for the question with anticipation and excitement.

"I've tried it. Once…with a girl four years ago."

I finally looked up from my laptop and stared at him. His eyes looking at every object in the room except for me. He was serious. He was talking about us. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out of my mouth. I kept silent.

"I made a lot of mistakes then. I was a teenager. A kid. I showed my emotions, something that makes you vulnerable in our business today. I was very human then." He was answering Michael, but he was looking at me.

There were too many thoughts for me to contain in my head. I found myself wishing that I had a separate head for each of the thoughts. First, this was the first time I had ever heard him talk like this. It was something I couldn't describe. From the way he ignored me during work hours, I would never have guessed that he would remember anything about us. And then there was the thing about the simple life not working for him. Why couldn't I see it coming four years ago? Why didn't he tell me that he had run away because he was tired of living the normal life?

Michael was practically ready to jump out of his chair. I wanted so badly to hit him for being so excited about a topic that made so depressed. A topic that was, unknown to him, about me. "Was it successful? And what about this girl…where is she now? What was her name?"

"The girl? I…" His voice trailed off in uncertainty. He wasn't looking at me anymore, much less at Michael. We all sat there like rocks, awkward and wanting to move on. I broke the silence.

"You know what? I think I have enough information already." I began to pack up my things as fast as I could.

Michael looked at me totally amused. "So it _is_ true what they say about you two," he mused, as if this was some kind of a joke. He looked at Richard. "She's the girl, isn't she?" he asked, referring to me. He looked at me like I was some kind of a monkey.

"Get out of here or you're fired," Richard said strongly, ignoring Michael's curiosity. He gave Michael a look that plainly stated that he was dismissed. Michael took this as his cue to leave. He shook both of our hands and left quickly.

Richard and I walked outside and stood on the sidewalk.

"You taking a cab?" he asked, raising his voice over the passing cars and people.

It was amazing, the nightlife of Gotham. It was almost like a replica of New York City. It was almost twelve and people were still strolling down the streets like the sun was still out. Cars were still parked along the sidewalk and out on the streets.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah."

He stepped out a couple of feet from the sidewalk and whistled until a taxi car stopped by shortly. "Wanna share this one?"

I climbed in with him and gave him a guarded look, as if to tell him that this wasn't going to make up for what he did. He seemed to accept it, and the whole ride home seemed even longer than when we were going down the stairs together. When we reached my penthouse building, I paused and looked at him before I climbed out.

"You know," I started, "This doesn't mean you get an apology from me yet. I still hate you as much as I did when I came to this job."

He stared down at his hands first, and then straight into my eyes, with a serious, remorse gaze with guilt written all over his eyes. "I don't expect you to forgive me for what I did, whether it be now or ever. I am just content that you know why I did what I did."

The look on his face made me feel even worse about our situation. I closed the door gently and walked to the doors of my apartment, greeted by the doorman. I never looked back.

I was sleepless that night. And surprisingly, something good came out of it.

_Gotham's Heir Revealed_

_By Kori Anders_

_With new trade for stocks, manufacturing of artillery, and a global newspaper, G&W, which stands for Grayson and Wayne, has become one of Gotham's most dominant and influential industries in the few years it has been established. But who is the man behind all of the grandeur? Richard Grayson, the youngest vice president in recorded history. Twenty-two and single, he is a paparazzi favorite. His life of opulence is far more than most men of his societal status. However, at many times attempts for alteration are not always successful. The simple life proved to be too monotonous and dawdling for this industrialist, who himself admits that he thrives on variety and change. His love life remains occupied by an unidentified female, one he refuses to name. And of course, anyone who is always on the cover of _People_ magazine has to have his or her own set of fans. "He is so handsome. And that mysterious attitude- its just something that comes off as attractive," says Violet Garner, an enthusiast. Striking looks and mysterious personas- two characteristics that leave people wanting for more. So what's in the future of G&W? "You'll have to wait and see," says the VP. And who knows? With the Grayson and Wayne duo at it, Gotham might just be on its way to being the next city of commerce and diligence._

I think I made him sound too good.

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**Author's Note: Thank you to all those faithful reviewers who have been reviewing my story. It seems like the reviews for Teen Titan fics have gone dead since the series was canceled. I work really hard on every chapter that I write, and I want to know more of your thoughts on the story. Please review! I want to get as many reviews as there are hits! Love you all!**

-sTaRfIrExrObIn


	6. Chapter 5

I wished Richard and I could just get over everything in the past. Was I the one holding that possibility back? I knew I was stubborn sometimes and unwilling, but I never knew I so…_me_.

And I hated it.

I hated my beauty, because I always felt cheated when men only looked at my face and not my personality. I hated how I fell so hard for Richard Grayson and I hated how he knew.

A week had passed since our night at the café. There were times when I saw him and he would walk hurriedly past me. And then there were times when he saw me, tried to talk to me, and I walked past him. As for Michael, there were times when we saw each other and I completely ignored him. I noticed that Richard was doing the same. It was a system that seemed to work for all three of us.

Since he had given me the most sincere apology the week before, I had been thinking of him. I finally got up the nerve to approach him. On the way to the elevator, I caught up to him as quickly as I could. I had the pressing urge to talk to him all of a sudden. I didn't want to avoid him anymore.

As soon as I stepped in, the doors closed. It was awkward. There were three people standing behind us. I could feel them practically boring their eyes into our faces. Damn gossipers.

From the corner of my eye I saw him turn towards me. "Hey," he said in his warm, smooth voice.

"Hi."

His voice was husky and cool, collected as always. Mine came out as a small murmur. I thought I sounded like a mouse.

I faced him, making eye contact for the longest time since we had seen each other. I had never really taken the time to take a good look at his change. I felt my heart jump a little at the way he looked. Older, sadder, and even more handsome. His face was still slightly heart shaped. Strong, square jaw; rounded forehead; squared-off cheekbones. But when I looked harder and longer, I saw many unexpected things, deeper things. His eyes for instance. They were still blue, but a very unrecognizable blue, one that had turned gray almost. His mouth was a lovely mouth.

He stared at me too, but not the same way I stared at him. Oh God, what if he thought I was crazy? I shook myself out of my trance instantly.

"You busy tonight?" he asked me. His blue eyes were filled with hope.

I shook my head. "No." I tried to stop a knowing smile from forming on my face. He was going to ask me out!

Wait…this was supposed to be a _bad_ thing…

"Wanna get a drink?" he asked more casually.

I thought about it for a moment. I pictured myself drinking beside him, laughing and talking like things were still normal. What would this mean? Would this mean that we were friends again? Maybe this was a chance for us to smooth everything out in the open. But then again, it was another way for us to spark something that didn't need to be sparked.

I made the decision not to go. But my voice betrayed me.

I simply nodded my head. "Sure."

We stepped out of the elevator and caught a cab that drove us to a bar a few blocks down the street from G&W. It was a strange place to me. I had only been into a bar a few times with Raven and Gar this year. It was all Gar's idea.

We sat ourselves down in one of the booths and ordered our drinks. We sat still.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you feel when you found out you had to work with me?" he asked me. I remembered that he was earnest and deep. It was something I had always liked about him.

"I was surprised and I didn't like it," I admitted honestly. "I didn't realize that you'd be here."

"I knew you would be." He cleared his throat. "Here, I mean."

"You did?"

"They send the job applications to me for approval before they give them to Michael. It says that at the bottom of the application forms."

"Oh." I cursed myself for not reading the form more thoroughly. I hated forms, especially when they asked things like _Mother's name_,_ Father's name_,_ Mother's maiden name_, because I never had names to fill in the spaces. Between college and my career, I had filled out far too many of them.

So he'd known. I hadn't, obviously. What if I had known? Would I still have come? Would I have willingly tossed myself into a life full of Richard Grayson, breaker of hearts and minds? Probably not. I felt like I had suffered the most from the break-up.

He looked at me. He was thinking how to say what he was going to say next. "When I saw your application, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't have you at G&W, with everybody always whispering. I was about to reject it. But I knew that you deserved more, and that you would come here stronger, better than I remembered you."

"Oh," I said again, dumbly. I couldn't register what I was feeling.

"I wasn't sure you'd come again after you saw me," he said.

"I wasn't either."

"I'm glad you did," he added. He did look happy, and also uncertain. He was looking at me in a different way.

His eyes on me were different. I couldn't say why. "And why is that?"

"Because I wouldn't have gotten stuck in that elevator with you and we wouldn't be getting drunk here right now." He flashed his gleaming smile. I tried not to be too dazed.

I smiled nervously and laughed. "Wow."

"Dating anybody?" He did look curious, in a way, but also anxious. He was looking at me in a different way.

"I did, for a while," I stated a matter-of-factly.

He made a face.

"But then I started to focus on my career more."

He made another face again, one that confused me. Was he surprised? Was he happy? Was he sorry?

We spent another two hours at Joe's, the name of the bar. The bartender had to drive out a couple of paparazzi, one of them confessing to have followed us from work. Richard walked me to my building and all the way up to the penthouse door.

I took out my keys. I looked up at him one more time. I felt shy again.

"I need to talk to you about something." He took hold of my hand. "Can we go inside?"

I gave him a purely skeptical look. "Sure," I said uncertainly.

I opened the door to hear the TV. I walked to our cozy den to find Raven and Garfield lounging on the couch together in front of the TV. Gar was lying on Raven's lap, practically snoring his head off. But Raven was still wide-awake, and when she saw us she raised an eyebrow. I had almost forgotten that Richard was behind me.

"This is interesting," she said monotonously with sarcasm, and then she turned her attention back to the TV. She stared at our hands. I forgot that we were still holding hands. My eyes widened in horror and I instantly yanked my hand from Richard's.

I took Richard to the balcony. We stood over the rail, silently. I gazed off into the city. He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me gently to face him. His eyes were serious and grave.

I looked at him with worried eyes. "What is it? You scaring me now."

"It's your sister. Koma."

I looked at him skeptically. "Koma? But Koma's dead…"

They had found Koma's body washed ashore on one of the beaches along the European coast two years ago. They never specified where, which seemed oddly suspicious at the time, but other than that they made every other detail clear.

"Your sister is very alive. And she wants you dead."

My mind went blank. I looked at his mouth moving, but I had no idea what he was talking about. I did not disguise this. I kept my eyes closed, still trying to breath properly. I hoped I was having another one of those bad dreams. But when I opened my eyes, he was still looking at me, his hands were still holding my shoulders, and he was still waiting for me to respond.

I chose not to believe it. "You're lying. They found Koma's body a couple years ago."

"Kori, you have to trust me. I have new leads. She may be working with somebody, but we don't know who."

It was silent. All of a sudden the noisy cars below us were roaring in my ear, and the words coming out of his mouth were a blur. Sighing frustratingly, I put my hand to my forehead weakly and took a seat on the chair nearby.

"So Koma's alive. It's not true. Galfore told me four years ago and it's still not true. Now what do you want with me?" I asked, suddenly annoyed.

"I want to keep you safe. Protect you."

I kept my eyes closed, still trying to breath properly. "What? I…can't. I won't let you do it."

"I have to protect you, Kori. I don't have a choice."

I faced him with a sudden rage. Those words triggered every remorseful memory I had with him. "Don't you think you've protected me enough? You protected me in the past, and look at what it's done to us. I don't this to happen. Ever."

"Like I said, I don't have a choice."

I looked at him with somber eyes and uncrossed my arms. "You always have a choice. Everybody always has a choice. Why don't you have one?"

"Because I was hired…" His voice trailed off. It had a weird sound of longing in it, but he soon cleared his throat. "…By Galfore. She's stronger than ever. She will kill you as soon as she gets the chance to."

"How do you know that?"

"The fortune. You're the heir to it. She's killed your parents for it and now she wants to kill you for it. We have a few men from G&W protecting your uncle as well."

His words were numbing. I got up from my chair and walked slowly to the balcony. At that moment I felt like jumping off so badly. How could Koma have killed my parents? We were so young then, and I knew she wasn't capable of doing such a thing.

"But Koma was only twenty when that happened. She…she must have been under some kind of influence."

"She was. Do you remember Xavier?"

Instantly my hand went to my lips. Richard's face became even harder than it already was. I nodded. I couldn't speak. By the end of this conversation, I was probably going to be paralyzed with shock.

"When you met him, he wasn't eighteen. He was nineteen, and he graduated a year before we did. He was your sister's boyfriend and was working for Slade when he convinced your sister to run away with him," he explained.

"So where is Koma now?"

"I imagine she's working for Slade as well. With Xavier."

"He's…he's not dead yet, is he?"

I looked at his fist resting on the table. He sat still in his seat. His face showed no emotion, and he turned his head to the side so I wouldn't see it. But his fist was curled up in a ball so tight his knuckles were literally turning white.

"No. He's here, in Gotham. And he's looking for you."

Suddenly I felt weak. I thought instantly of the caped man who had saved me in the alley way almost two months ago. He was wearing a red suit. Could that have been Xavier? I had thought of my mysterious savior after he rescued me. I had thought of seeing him again, being held by him again, being close to him again. I would have died if I knew I was thinking of Xavier.

"Me?" My voice sounded more like a little squeak. "You mean I could have possibly run into him?"

"What do you mean?" He turned his head slightly, only allowing me to see his profile.

"A couple of months ago, I ran into a gang in the alleyway when I tried taking a shortcut from work. They were…uh, shoving me around until this guy in a really dark red suit came and fought them off."

I didn't want to upset Richard. So I kept a few details out. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"It could be him; I don't know. I only saw him once passing our building and I let him get away." Richard sighed exasperatedly, running his fingers through his jet-black hair out of habit. It was silent after that.

I walked him out from the terrace through the double doors. We passed the living room again, but this time both Raven and Beastboy were asleep. I sighed with relief. Before I opened the door I paused and looked at him.

"I'll let you watch over me," I said boldly, "On one condition."

"What?"

"I want to help you." There was still an uncertainty in my voice that I hoped Richard wouldn't notice. "Wherever you go, I go."

He did, of course. But he remained silent for a little bit.

"Are you sure? I don't want you getting hurt…again."

I sensed a double meaning in his words. When he said "hurt", did he mean physically or emotionally?

"Don't worry," I said, opening the door and letting him out, "I won't."

There was no uncertainty in my voice this time.

**------------------------------**

The next morning, I woke up feeling…different. I could hear the birds singing instead of the traffic below me. Our dining chairs felt soft and cushiony instead of hard. I had made my own breakfast this morning.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Raven had asked. I simply nodded and went upstairs to my room.

It was Wednesday. That meant another boring meeting in the staff room, another assignment to cover, and another article to write. It also meant seeing Richard. But I didn't fret like I usually did. I didn't mind anymore. I felt like wearing something other than a pencil skirt or slacks.

I walked through the conference room doors in a simple dark green dress and equally simple black pumps. No earrings or no jewelry at all, and my hair was let down without any grooming- just as simple as I could get. But yet as I walked in to take my seat, I could feel the hungry stares of the men sitting nearby and the envious looks that the women gave as they glanced at me. Even Gene stopped what he was doing to stare for a few seconds.

I tried not to look at Richard. I could feel him glancing at me occasionally. But soon enough, almost like two magnets, my gaze met with his familiar pair of blue eyes. I looked away quickly and began to pay attention to Gene.

"…So as you know, the Meeting of Circle Internationals is coming up. For those of you that don't know," he explained, making a point of looking at me, "This only happens once every five years. Twenty of the most influential business leaders of the world come together to discuss the business world, along with ten of their staff members."

Everybody in the room nodded stupidly in unison almost like little bobble heads.

"Most of you have gotten the opportunity to experience this. But they changed the rules this year. Now only one person can accompany their leader to the meeting. This year it's going to be in Paris for three days."

The room was filled with excited murmurs. I was torn apart. Going to Paris and this meeting would be the greatest thing ever. But then again, if I went, I would have to be with Richard almost 24/7.

"Now everybody vote for who you think deserves to go. And no voting for yourselves, little smart-asses out there."

We all chuckled, but after a few seconds the laughter died down. I was sure that no one would vote for me. I was still considered the new girl. I had made a few friends, but even if they all voted for me I still wouldn't win. Smirking, I voted purposely for Michael. I knew Richard hated him now after the night in the café.

We passed our little slips of paper back up to the front to Gene. We all sat there, antsy and ready for answers.

Gene picked up one slip. "Violet …"

I caught her flashing a seductive smirk at Richard, who ignored it. I laughed to myself.

"Michael…"

That was probably my vote. I looked at Michael. He looked surprised that someone had actually voted for him.

"Ross…Violet, again…"

I didn't even bother to look at Violet. Was every girl in this building dying to get into Richard's arms?

"Anders…"

I had been looking around the room when Gene said my name. My head shot up.

"Kori," he said again.

He picked up another piece of paper. "Kori Anders…"

And another. "Anders…"

Was this some kind of sick joke? I could hear everybody in the room whispering and snickering. It wasn't funny to me. I was about to beat some people up any minute now. Come to think of it, there was an alley across the street…

"…And lastly, Anders," he said exasperatingly. "Wow. I didn't know Miss Anders had so many friends."

I tried to look happy. My smile wobbled.

"So Anders, you won and you're going to Paris. You and Grayson are scheduled to board your plane tomorrow morning, so get packing. Meeting dismissed."

Everybody got up from their seats with different expressions on their faces. Violet looked like she wanted to shoot me. Michael looked sad. Everybody else looked like they had just played the best prank ever. And then there was Richard. He looked…silent. It was awkward.

What was wrong with these people? Were they trying to piss me off? I curled up my fists and gritted my teeth hard. I was going to tell everybody what I thought of them. Violet, with her sluty little smile. Juan, with his white tuxedo. I mean, who wore those things nowadays? And Johnny, the office pervert who kept on giving me looks during meetings. I was too angry to think about what I was going to do next.

I stomped over to the doors where everybody was making their way to. I couldn't believe I was going to do this. I could feel the fire blazing in my eyes, and my pearly whites gritted in everyone's faces.

But then I spotted a smile that Richard was trying to hide on his face. He was _laughing_. He knew I was going to do this. He was probably expecting me to make a fool of myself. So I stopped myself. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of my humiliation.

I sighed, cooled myself down, and walked out the conference room like everybody else did. But two seconds after everybody walked out of the room, one comment caught my ear.

"-Anders will be thanking us when they get back from that trip." It was one of the guys that sat across me. Matt, I think.

"It's too bad though. I don't think she's tough enough. I think that's why Grayson dumped her. You know how he likes them feisty."

It was that comment right there. I slowly turned my head around and made eye contact with Johnny. He stood there at first, with a kind of scared look on his face, and then a smirk.

I stormed over to where he was and until my nose was about two inches way from his. "Do you want to take that back?" I said darkly. For a second I saw a flash of worry spark in his eyes.

But he just shook it off and laughed. He looked at me with a mischievous look, one that was almost too inviting. "Listen baby, I don't want to hurt a pretty little thing like you. Why don't you just come with me and we'll-"

From the corner of my eye, I could see Richard's His eyes were darkening, his face flushed with anger. Mine was too. I could feel my self-confidence suddenly boost. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and thrust him hard into the wall. I held him with a strength I never knew I had.

There was a dramatic gasp in the room. It was almost like one of those high school fights, where everybody crowded around the two people who were fighting to see if they had the guts to hit each other.

"Am I tough enough now?" I said, tilting my head to the side. There was a dead silence.

For a second his lower jaw trembled and he couldn't even utter a word out. "O-okay, okay!" he spat out. "J-just…just put me down!"

I released my grip on Johnny and he fell to the floor.

I turned around and looked at the crowd. Some of the guys stood there, their jaws dropping all the way to the floor. And then some guys looked at me in a different way, like they wanted me even more. The girls stared at me like I was Oprah. Obviously I wasn't the only one who was bothered by Johnny.

I looked at the wall. There was a dent the same exact shape of Johnny's body.

I stood there to the point where I couldn't stand standing. I cleared my throat and announced softly, "I'll, um, be in my office if anyone needs me."

People were still standing and staring. For a second I started to become angry again. Didn't they learn their lesson from Johnny?

I kept on walking. Everybody made way for me in fear, and as I was walking my shoulder brushed Richard's. I turned my head and our eyes met.

He was trying to stifle a laugh, I could tell. There was an old smirk on his face, just like the good old times we had before. A small smile curved on the ends of my mouth, and then I turned my head away again and made my way through the crowd.

When I got to my office I plopped down onto my chair and swiveled around it a couple of times. For a minute I felt free, like I was released into the wild or something. Then it suddenly dawned onto me that I made a dent in a white marble wall by slamming a guy into it.

Oh, X'hal.

What if I got fired? They probably all thought I needed anger management.

Work became peaceful the rest of the day, and I was totally thankful for that. I never stepped out of my office and spent four hours typing on my keyboard.

It was four when I clocked out of work. I walked down the stairs (that's right, all 99 stories), which took me about an hour at my fast rate. I couldn't wait to go home and pack my things. I was practically skipping down the stairs.

When I stepped out of the building, Richard was waiting for me right outside the revolving doors. I gave him a questioning look as he fell into step with me.

"How long have you been waiting out here for me?" I lowered my lashes without thinking.

"A couple hours since you almost beat Johnny up."

His face was very distracting; I couldn't help but steal a glance at it. He was looking at me, almost eye to eye, with that same smirk. His eyes still held coldness.

"Oh, God. Don't remind me of that," I groaned. "I just really lost my temper there. You should see how he looks at me."

"I have," Richard muttered darkly under his breath. I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or me.

We kept on walking. I didn't know where, but I honestly didn't care. The building was only a few blocks away from my house, so we reached my building within minutes. We stopped when we reached the door.

"Wow. You waited for me for two hours just so you could walk me home?" I asked, a smile forming on my face. I didn't want to make it look like I was actually enjoying his presence. Was I? I had to think about that tonight.

"That's what friends do, right?"

Friends? Were we really?

I knew he didn't expect anything from me. It was the type of person he was. If I had rejected him and said that we weren't friends, he would have turned around with only a single goodbye and walk home.

"Yes," I said finally. He looked rather fascinated by what I just said, for some strange reason I couldn't imagine.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" he said in his cool breezy voice.

"I guess so." I was smiling at him. Not because of the memory of him. It was because he was really here, smiling that crooked, dazzling smile just the way I liked it.

I could really get used to this.

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**Author's Note: Please review this chapter! Oh, and just a curious question: When do some of you guys go on fanfiction? Lol Sometimes I go on at midnight and my friend thinks it's weird. : Peace!**

**-sTaRfIrExrObIn **


	7. Chapter 6

I was exhausted when I boarded the jet at two in the morning. There was a chair and a sofa in the plane. I took the sofa, and Richard took the chair. For an hour I wrote a report based on a stupid graph Gene had given me the day before. And then I slept the rest of the entire plane ride.

My eyes fluttered open, and I checked the clock on the wall. We had one more hour left. I was red with embarrassment all of a sudden. I could just imagine myself snoring for nine hours. Oh God, what if I had been sleep talking? I turned even redder. My hair was mangled, and I saw Richard chuckling silently to himself as he sat in his chair.

"I wouldn't be laughing, you know. Your bed head is almost as bad as mine," I snapped impatiently.

It was true. His black hair stuck up on the right of his head, with little patches going in the other direction.

He laughed, either at my impatience or what I had just said. Maybe it was both. Soon I found myself laughing with him.

"You haven't changed a bit. You still talk in your sleep, huh?" he said as the plane tilted sideways.

I groaned inwardly and outwardly. Sleep talking was one of the things I frequently did whenever I was worn out. And I was _wiped_ out this morning.

"No way." I slapped my hand to my forehead. "Are you serious? What was I saying?"

He smirked as the jet slowly began to descend. "You don't wanna know."

"No, seriously, tell me." I looked at him like I was challenging him.

"You said my name. And then you said Roy's name." He looked kind of irritated about that last part.

I laughed, because of how embarrassed I was about saying his name when he was in clear hearing distance and because of how Roy's name annoyed him so easily. I almost couldn't believe it. He was jealous!

But I pushed the subject matter aside. "Can you still read minds?"

"Yeah. But I have more control over it now."

I remembered how he used to talk about his talent four years ago. He used to describe it as noisy, annoying, and how he used to just hear random thoughts and whines of people. I smiled inside.

"Do you think you can read mine now?" I asked.

"I don't know. Let me try." He concentrated his eyes into mine and paused. I sat up straight on the sofa.

His eyes spelled out pure awkwardness at first. But then they became beautiful. His eyes were dark blue before, but now they were slowly turning into a nice, icy blue. I could have sworn I was under some kind of spell.

My eyes began to widen when I realized what we were doing. What would this look like to other people? I think we both realized the same thing. We looked away at the same moment.

"I still can't read you," he mumbled.

He spun the chair in the opposite direction with his feet, and I lay back down on the couch, putting the blanket over my head.

As soon as we landed, we were sent straight to the Bordeaux Building of Commerce.

The meeting took place the two hundred story building in the bustling city of Paris. When Richard and I reached the top floor, we met with the doorman, who bowed and opened the ten-feet tall double doors, revealing a very large circular table that sat about twenty. I was ordered not to sit next to Richard, as we had planned; instead I sat directly across from him. The meeting was to last for six hours, or as long as it took all of the leaders to come to a decision.

The Meeting of Circle Internationals was not lived up to its name. It was just a bunch of fat, middle-aged men consumed with their money and had no lives. There were a few slim men, some just a little bit older than Richard and me. They all seemed to give me a certain thirsty look, as if they had all been cooped up in their offices for too long.

I sat still for five minutes and already found myself bored. Was I really supposed to sit here for seven hours?

But I realized a strange but comforting fact of life: You could get used to almost anything if you were exposed to it for at least one minute. You could get used to sitting in a big room full of the richest men in the world. You could even do that if one of those men happened to be your ex boyfriend and you happened to get closer than you wanted to him the night before.

For the first hour, I agonized.

Sometime in the second hour, my muscles began to feel less tight, one at a time un-kinking.

In the third hour, something else happened. I began to watch Richard. I watched him talk. I watched him get slightly angry, slam his fist down lightly on the table, and then cool off. And then I watched him watch me. I saw how he looked at the different aspects of my face, my skin, my body.

As much as I ordinarily dreaded being looked at, this felt different. It was a different way of looking. He looked at me like he was trying to decipher every part of me. His intensity built, and surprisingly, I began to relax. I began to realize that business was his job, his life. He was really good at it. This freed my mind to wander all around the big room. Were all relationships this way, to some extent? I wasn't even sure if we had established a new one, or mended our previous one at the least.

The room was like a sunroom. Instead of normal plain white walls, the walls and roof were made of glass. I liked the way the sun felt on my skin. It was probably sometime in the early afternoon when I looked out the window. Paris was different than Gotham. In Gotham, things were always busy, as if life was going by too fast. There were always too many things to do in one day; it always seemed like one moment you opened your eyes to wake up in the morning, and when you blinked the moon was already out. Paris seemed more peaceful, more serene. I always imagined the most graceful people to live in such a lovely city. It was true when they called it the city of romance. I saw at least ten couples cuddling every time I stepped out of the hotel.

He called on me once. It's true. Miss Anders, please give them the evidence, he had requested. There was a slight twinkle in his eyes telling me to give my report. I flipped through my folder and read the report I wrote. I saw him glance at me for a second. I began to feel self-conscious.

An intense pressure between us began to build. It was one that had begun to build a long time ago, four years back.

In the fourth hour, he looked back at my face at the same moment I was looking at his. We were both surprised at first and then looked away. Then, at the same moment, we both looked back. And then we looked away. Again. He had been paying some attention to what was being discussed and then stopped. He lost his way. He looked confused and then found his way back into the conversation.

The intensity continued to build.

In the fifth hour, I thought about him touching me. Just when I didn't think my cheeks could get any redder, more blood came to my face. I wanted to crawl underneath the table and hide there the entire meeting, and at the same time I felt bold enough to stay.

There was a pressure between us.

I hadn't been paying attention to the discussion until he looked up at me suddenly with questioning eyes. "Do you agree Miss Anders?"

I suddenly realized that he was talking to me. I nodded my head slowly, unaware of what I was agreeing to. "Yes…yes, I believe so."

I got a soft nudge to my arm from the man sitting next to me. He sensed my confusion. "You know, it would help if you paid more attention."

What had he really meant by that? Was I really that obvious? I looked at Richard again. I was under a spell. He was under a spell too. We were under different spells.

It still kept on building.

And for the next hour, the sixth hour, he looked at me and I looked at him back. And it was like a staring contest, the stakes seemed to rise and rise until it was almost unbearable. The intensity was still building. But neither of us looked away. My eyes began to hurt, and I could feel my skin burning hotly.

And then it was too much. The intensity exploded.

I stood up abruptly from my chair, pushing it back and making it hit the glass wall roughly. The room was silent. I had interrupted a big argument between two sides of the table. "I'm sorry…please excuse me," I said in a frustrated yet smooth voice.

I didn't even bother to look at Richard. He was probably still wearing those stupid sunglasses, as if he needed a reason to hide eyes as beautiful as his. I stormed out of the room hotly and out the doors. It was too much for me to handle. The intensity, that is. I walked out to the other side of the hall, away from the guards.

I didn't want anybody to see me like this. I couldn't even tell what I was feeling right now. Desire was just the dumbest thing. You wanted what you wanted until it was yours. And then you didn't want anymore. What was happening to me? Was this normal for most people?

And then out of the blue, I heard footsteps out in the hall. They were soft and light and reckless and uncertain. But they were coming down from the room and into my direction. I saw Richard, and Richard saw me. He walked towards me, slowly and carefully, as if I was a ticking bomb that might go off any second.

The halls were silent.

'_Stop! Stop! Run away now!'_ I was giving myself a headache from mentally yelling at myself.

He came closer and closer until he was about only two feet away from me. I stayed frozen against the wall. I could almost imagine what expression I had on my face. Probably a doomed look, a confused and frightened look. I was scared of what was about to happen. My eyes kept on staring into his. My brain was thinking so many thoughts.

When he finally took off his sunglasses, his cheeks were as flushed as mine. He was as breathless as me. His eyes were the lightest blue I could ever imagine them to be, and he stared at my green ones as if they were the most beautiful things on Earth. We were under the same spell.

And then time suddenly seemed to move out of Paris's graceful, slow timing. It was fast, bolting. I didn't have control over my body anymore. I felt the need to run far away from him suddenly. But I stayed still, waiting.

He came over to me, still not breaking eye contact. He put his hand lightly around my waist and leaned down and kissed me.

* * *

A//N: Please review! All reviews are loved and appreciated. :

-sTaRfIrExrObIn


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